Seoul asylum

PRESENTED BY #EXXONKNEW YESTERDAY

Watch the Climate Action Campaign’s press conference with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) and more at the EPA headquarters on the EPA’s deadly rollbacks of climate rules.

It really is something that the US abducting hundreds of citizens of a key military ally who were helping construct a major cleantech manufacturing facility and putting them in a concentration camp for a week is getting buried in the news cycle by the ritualistic sanctification of a Christofascist.¹

The South Korean government, which hosts 15 U.S. military bases with about 28,500 troops, has launched a formal human-rights investigation into the appalling mistreatment of the workers by racist ICE goons. The first-hand stories of the Hollywood-style invasion and imprisonment are riveting that nation, as the advanced battery factory in Georgia remains idled for the indefinite future.

Congress is barreling towards the final showdown on extending government funding past September 30th, one of the few legislative checkpoints left where Democrats hold the power of the filibuster. As the Trump regime illegally shuts down swathes of the government, unconstitutionally seizes lawmaking powers, and builds an uncontrolled army of masked secret police working with thoughtcrime informants, Congressional Democrats have chosen to make the December 31st expiration of Obamacare tax credits their one point of contention. As David Dayen points out, “this exchanges something Republicans need (preventing a health insurance apocalypse that they created) with something they want (passing government funding on their terms).”

This morning, honoring the 238th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to rollback Trump’s abrogration of power, including the Stop Millionaires Using Service for Kickbacks (Stop MUSK) Act, but Democratic leadership do not consider this the right fight to have with the limited power they have, preferring to negotiate healthcare for fascism.

From Dayen:

Here’s a fun reminder that Republicans are a fossil-fueled clown-car operation.

This morning, Senate Commerce chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) couldn’t get his members to show up, so the vote to back Neil “Sharpiegate” Jacobs as NOAA Administrator was cancelled, even though ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) was willing to support Jacobs.

Similarly, Senate Environment chair Shelley Ann Capito (R-W. Va.) couldn’t get all her fellow Republicans to show up this morning, so the vote to back neo-fascist oil-industry lawyer Jeffery Hall to be EPA Assistant Administrator, Enforcement and Compliance Assurance was delayed again. The hearing that followed, on oversight of the US Army Corps of Engineers, was interrupted by a protestor:

Ten years ago yesterday, a headline from Neela Bannerjee, Lisa Song, and David Hasemyer changed the course of history:

Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago.

Some of today’s headlines:

A U.S. renewable diesel refiner purchased tallow from slaughterhouses supplied by ranches fined for illegal clearing of Brazilian forests.

Young activists won a landmark state climate trial. Now they’re challenging Trump’s orders.

A steady ocean pattern just failed for the first time ever observed.

Global oil and gas output declines accelerating, IEA warns in new report.

Rain-starved southern Australia is grappling with one of the worst droughts in memory.

Syria's worst drought in decades pushes millions to the brink.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 9 AM: House Foreign Affairs Committee
  Markup of Department of State Reauthorization Bills

• 9:15 AM: Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  Votes on 32 Department of State Nominations, including Jacob Helberg to be Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment

• 9:50 AM: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
  Vote on the Nomination of Jeffery Hall to be EPA Assistant Administrator, Enforcement and Compliance Assurance

• 10 AM: House Natural Resources Committee
  Markup of Mining Deregulatory Legislation and Other Bills

• 10 AM: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
  Oversight of the US Army Corps of Engineers

• 10 AM: Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
  Vote on the Nomination of Neil Jacobs to be NOAA Administrator

• 10:15 AM: Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
  Nominations of Michael Graham to the National Transportation Safety Board, Ethan Klein to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Joyce Meyer to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs

Climate Action Today:

• 12 PM: Climate Cabinet
  Moneyball for Climate: The 2026 Playbook

• 12:30 PM: Climate Action Campaign
  EPA's Climate Chaos Plan and Clean Vehicle Rollback

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.

1  Even in Canada, “a really screwed up country” and “a self-hating country.”